I called Director Buell (a.k.a. Jennifer) the other week.  It had been too long since we had chatted, and I was anxious for some news from North Bay.  However, my inspiration for calling at that particular time was that I was on the way to the Dartford Borough Museum, my most favourite museum in ALL of Dartford!  This museum has a fabulous school loans program, which I am now advocating Jennifer to adopt in North Bay.  


It probably goes without saying that England's history is long.  Indeed, it is much longer than North Bay's (as a city) (though of course the Nipissing area has been inhabited for thousands of years as well).  Well, it just so happens that Dartford, in a previous incarnation, was inhabited by Romans, and of course they left evidence of their stay here.  This evidence takes the form of construction, coins, jewelry, and pottery.  It was the pottery that most interested me, because this is what I was borrowing.


In an effort to get my students interested in history once again after a two-week school holiday, I thought it would be great to bring in some artifacts that they could touch, handle, and really connect to.  I was so happy that the Dartford Borough Museum actually let students handle (carefully) their artifacts, and the students responded really well to this.  They were full of questions and enthusiasm as I asked them to study their artifact, recreate it with plasticine, draw it, write about it, ... and well the list goes on ...


Naturally, I had to impress upon these students the importance of making sure the artifacts were safe from carelessness.  I told them that they were irreplaceable, as they were so old and each one unique.  One student asked me how much they were worth.  I told him that they are priceless - I couldn't attach a value to it.  He asked, then, if that meant they would cost nothing to replace.  I told him "no... they would cost EVERYTHING."  I don't think my warning went unheeded, as the students were very responsible, and extremely considerate.  


I hate to say, it was very exciting for me to see these students (all around 11 or 12 years old) practicing their "amateur archaeology" skills, while literally handling a piece of this area's history.  It was a really great moment!

The artifact on the left is an actual piece of Roman pottery, about 2,000 years old, which has a figure of a lion's head on it, which served as a spout.  On the right is a student-made recreation, where they did their best to simulate the pottery techniques with plasticine.  I loved this piece because a little competition came out of it: a couple of teachers got involved with the students, and tried to produce the most faithful recreation.  There was some friendly banter tossed around as the students, and their teacher, had me come over and photograph the final results.

This one is an excellent drawing of another piece of pottery, which had a small image of a cherub (one of those plumpy kid-angels, like Cupid) on it.  I thought the drawing was just spectacular, and a very good representation of the pottery.

And this one was the same shard, but recreated in plasticine!

Halloween is going to be a very busy day here at the museum.  Not only is it is our last Haunted Hike tour date of the 2009 season, it is also a Kidz Day... A Haunted Kidz Day!


I've posted some pictures of Courtney (and one of our newest friends) starting to get things ready for the spooky event. It will begin at 11am, and is aimed at children ages 5-12.  For more information, take a look at our events page.  Hope to see you there!

Well, it's been far too long since I dropped a line in my role as Foreign Correspondent to Discovery North Bay, but that's because I have had a distinct lack of news to share.  Until now.

As you can see, I have been spreading my Shad-y (not shady) message around the European continent.  Aside from the fact that I am sitting on my couch wearing my blue Shadwear T-Shirt, this picture is of my in my black one, at Blarney Castle!

Some of you may be familiar with the legendary Blarney Stone at the castle, which - when kissed - is said to give the lucky kiss-giver the "gift of the gab."  The thing is, for some reason they built this stone into the bottom edge of the top part of a wall... does that make any sense?  No.  Okay, I'll try again - they put the stone in the bottom of the fortification, but that fortification is at the top of the wall.  So, in order to kiss it, you need to hang upside-down, while grasping these two bars installed just for your comfort.  I was feeling a little roughed-up by the guy who was working at the Stone that day, so I got nervous and after I kissed the stone, I got up really fast - too fast.  So fast that I smacked my forehead against the very stone I had just laid a kiss on.  The resulting bump earned the nickname Blarney Bump.

Here is a longer shot of me in front of Blarney Castle.  You remember how I was describing the location of the stone?  Well, if you look at the picture, there are three windows in the wall, one on top of the other (more or less)?  Well, above the third one is approximately where the Blarney Stone is.  It is oddly placed, for a stone with as much legend and mystery as ... well, any stone which has been kissed by the likes of Winston Churchill AND me!

It has been another wonderful season for the Haunted Hike crew. This year, we added a few new spooky tales, interviewed new sources and even had a paranormal investigation of the museum building....
Thanks to all who took part in our tours. The last tour of 2009 will take place on Hallowe'en night! Call 476-2323 for reservations.

Delegates from the Voyageur Heritage Network traveled to Sudbury on Saturday, October 17th 2009. We enjoyed tours of the Sudbury Regional Police Museum, noting how the image of law enforcement has changed over the years. One of the themes: Police are people too!
We enjoyed listening to speakers, including a wonderful presentation brought to us by one of the first females to serve with the OPP. Amazing how things have changed in a generation.
I had a chance to try on lots of gear, including this deceivingly heavy bullet proof vest. Some of the other exhibits included police communications, uniforms, major cases and more. I highly recommend a visit!
If you love learning more about the history of policing, you might want to pick up a couple of books for sale at the Discovery North Bay Museum gift shop: The Beat Light, and Police Stories.

I am very excited to be a member of 'North Bay's Curling Palace'!

Posted by: Kim

As the summer is winding down (despite the weather finally getting warmer), and we are getting less tourist traffic, shifts spent in the giftshop become very valuable scanning time.  We are continuing to work on digitizing our collection, and thus, I spent most of today scanning some recently donated photographs of the downtown construction in 1983, and the waterfront before redevelopment.  I thought I'd post a few of my favourites here, for everyone to see.

I love that we now have digital documentation of the construction work on Main Street, but what I find most fascinating about these pictures are the buildings.  It is amazing how much, yet how little things have changed in the past 15 years.  I have only lived in North Bay for a year now myself, so I can imagine that those of you who have been here for many years will have an increased appreciation for these photos.

We love being able to share the history of our community with the public so if you have any pictures like this lying around, bring them in!  Even if you aren't ready to part with your own personal collection, we would be happy to return them to you after we've scanned them an added them to our growing digital collection.

I will post some pictures of the waterfront before its redevelopment as soon as I can accurately date them

Posted by: Kim

Greetings again from England!  I finally managed to get some photos sorted out, so I can really immerse myself in my duties as @DNB's Foreign Correspondent!

Notice me proudly sporting my Shadwear in front of Big Ben, the famous clocktower that dominates the Parliament Buildings in London.  I was really stunned when I first saw it; the building is beautiful, and much more ornate and colourful than any picture can ever do justice to.  

And here I am, on the same day, in front of Churchill's War Bunker, which is not far from Buckingham Palace.  It wasn't open to visit at that time of day, so I have made a mental (and now virtual) note to go back and visit as soon as I can!

And here is my favourite London attraction so far - the Tower of London!  This building is the White Tower, which was built in the 1070s!  No, that's not a typo, that's literally when this tower was built, making it nearly a thousand years old.  The Tower was made particularly famous in the 1400s and beyond, when it was used as a prison for political prisoners, traitors, and most famously the second wife of King Henry VIII, Anne Boelyn, who was beheaded after being convicted of treason, on very dubious charges if you ask me...  The spot where she (and many others) were executed is marked by a very interesting glass sculpture, which lends the whole place a very ominous, ghostly feeling.  


The Tower is also the home of the famous Crown Jewels, and the world's largest diamond (530 carats!) which is part of a sceptre in the collection.  Of course, for security reasons, you can't take pictures inside the room where they are contained, but I would say that they alone are worth the trip to London from anywhere in the world... they were really quite stunning.  The majority of the Crown Jewels had to be re-made in the 1660s, after the Monarchy was overthrown and then re-established, so most of the jewelry dates from that time.


Okay, that about covers things for this installment.  While I am loving all the history here, I have to admit that I miss beautiful North Bay, which has its own rich and complicated history as well!


Posted by: Kyle

Oh - I wanted to add that @DNB's own Whitney, the Kidz Dayz coordinator at the musuem, gave me a mini-lesson on building an Inukshuk one day this summer, so I put that knowledge to good use, and built this one in front of my house here.  I hope that it's a message to all Canadians that my house here is a safe and welcoming place for them to be!  Thanks for the lesson, Whitney!

Kyle: I read your post!

And, in response, as I wait for tonight's sold out Haunted Hike to get underway, I thought I'd start off the 'shadwear around the world tour' on your behalf:

Pictured here:
Shadwear; Burk's Falls, Ontario

Prior to heading towards the airport, Kyle and I stopped at a friend's cottage, close to Ahmic Harbour.  While stopped, we went to see the largest art exhibit that I've ever seen: 'Screaming Heads'. 

If you want more information about this exhibit, check out http://www.mmage.com/screamingheads/main.htm
Even though the site isn't as up to date as it could be, it is still a good portrayal of Peter Camani's vision.

I'm looking forward to your pictures, Shadman!

Posted by: Kim

Hi everyone!  I am glad to see that the staff at Discovery North Bay have been so keenly updating the Blog since my departure (I say, tongue firmly in-cheek). 

Well, for the three or four of you reading this, you'll be happy to know that I have taken my show on the road, and have arrived safely in London, UK (no, not London, Ontario) and have already begun taking in the history here. 

Yesterday, I visited the Tower of London.  Sadly, I can't prove this with pictures, as I don't have a camera (yet) and have been relying on some new friends to take my pictures for me.  I guess the point of this, though, is to say that I have already begun my plan to spread Shadwear across the Globe.  You know those stores or shops that have pictures of people with their t-shirts/bags/funny toys/whatever, in front of world landmarks?  Well, I want to do that with Shadwear.  So, soon enough, I will be posting some photos of my favourite t-shirt, in front of some of my favourite London locales.

But anyway, the Tower of London was spectacular.  Really something else.  It's been a lifetime dream of mine to see the Crown Jewels, which are housed at the Tower in a super-secure vault designed just for the purpose of allowing visitors to come in without taking any of the jewels as souvenirs.  The verdict: They are amazing. 

The Tower itself is also quite incredible.  It's much larger than I had ever thought it would be, and quite varied in form and function.  Its most famous function was that of a prison, but did you know that it was never built for this purpose?  It just happened to be a very good place to keep prisoners...

Okay, that's all I have for today.  Prove to me that you're reading this, and leave me a comment! 

Posted by: Kyle, @DNB Blog Foreign Correspondent